Books, arts and culture

Chinese censorship

Fǎ Kè Yóu, River Crab

"THE Travelogue of Dr Brain Damages", a show of Kenneth "Tin-Kin" Hung's artwork, opened recently in Manhattan. Mr Hung's garish and busy large paintings feature images of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese leaders juxtaposed with icons of Western culture, such as Marilyn Monroe and the Mario Brothers (of Nintendo fame). These pieces are arresting, and I wish Mr Hung success, but most Western viewers will fail to understand some of the games the artist is playing. His work depends heavily on Chinese puns about internet censorship.

The Chinese have played with homophones and near homophones (usually differing only by a tone) for a long time. (They're a staple at the Chinese New Year.) More recently, this feature of Chinese has been particularly useful for evading the censors. When the authorities banned the phrase cào nǐ mā, or "fuck your mother", from the Chinese internet, in the name of combating vulgarity, the Chinese were quick to coin an internet hero, the Grass Mud Horse, whose name is a near homophone: Cǎo Ní Mǎ. Maorilyn Maoroe can be seen with him above. He is an opponent of the River Crab, a pun on "harmonious", the official description of the society censorship is meant to promote.

The Grass Mud Horse is just one of ten mythical creatures all designed to talk about naughty stuff through puns. Mr Hung includes a painting of another of them, the great French-Croatian Squid, whose Chinese name requires a little English to get the pun. He is Fǎ Kè Yóu, and wears a Mao jacket while blowing an inflationary bubble with chewing gum. (The vowel in ke is a sort of "uh" sound, so this sounds roughly like "fah-kuh you".) Perhaps my favourite character, for the absurdity of his English name, is Intelligent Fragrant Chicken, which is one tone off from dǎ fēi jī, slang for masturbation.

The Chinese writing system is hugely difficult, so much so that Chinese natives struggle to write even common words. It is also so difficult for foreigners to learn that it probably constrains its spread as a world language. Defenders of Chinese writing say that the characters are needed to disentangle the many homophones in the language, but of course Chinese people speak (homophones and all) without too much trouble, and without the aid of characters. The real reason to keep the Chinese characters is the cultural and aesthetic value they store for China.

Typically this has meant a very traditional kind of "value"—connection with the past, and with the nation. But Mr Hung's work shows the plasticity of all symbols. He notes that for China's ageing one-child children, the internet has become an essential part of life—more central, in fact, than for your average Western member of Generation Y. It's going to take more than an imposing River Crab to keep them from enjoying Intelligent Fragrant Chicken, or from exclaiming the odd Grass Mud Horse out of frustration.

I do not possess a level of knowledge on the subject that properly qualifies me to be a decent expert. I speak here as someone who speaks and writes Chinese as a native language.

The Chinese written character is made up of “components”. Each component can be an entire character itself, or it can be one, two, or more of the root components that form a character.

If you grew up with the language, you don’t “struggle” with learning to write the characters, as the present article suggests, any more than you struggle to memorize the rules on conjugations and declensions of gender, tense, case, mood, mode, and on top of all that a different preposition for every noun and verb. None of those things are on the “to learn” list when you learn Chinese. All you have to learn are the characters in their written and spoken forms.

In spoken form, the characters can get tricky, as not only do you have to learn their sound, you have their tone. Quite often the differentiations in tones are so fine they are indistinguishable, although I read Pavarotti had no trouble on the occasion when he performed Turandot in Beijing and learned a few lines in a Chinese Opera for sport.

An example of a character formed by two components is “goal”. It consists of the component “point to”, and the component “heart “. So a “goal” is “where the heart points to”.

Thus it is a very efficient language in the sense that a 5-year old learning to write the character “goal” will simultaneously learn the meaning of “goal”.

And so it goes for thousands of characters.

In the course of the evolution of the written form, some of the root components have become highly stylized for esthetic reasons, and in the Communist Regime’s effort to simplify the characters, many have become hard to trace to their classic form.

Thus on the present subject of Chinese puns, imagine the word play between and among literally thousands of words that sound the same or almost the same but are different words altogether in the written form. And add the regional dialects, each of which has its unique identifying accents quite different from all the rest , not unlike, for example, the “Appalachia accent” or “Maine accent” in USA . You have an inexhaustible gold mine for punning humor, which Chinese delight in.

All said, there is a standard of taste. There is refinement and crassness in all cultures and all languages. One needs to have enough sense and taste to be able to tell what are 5 cents trinkets belonging to a tourist shop and what are not. But if you are like me when I first arrived in America, I couldn’t when it came to all things American.

"The real reason to keep the Chinese characters is the cultural and aesthetic value they store for China."

this can't be. i can read chinese, as a westerner, but pinyin - which is probably the best alphabetic system you could come up with for writing chinese language - is good only for describing the pronunciation of the national dialect. reading a long text only in pinyin is really painful, because you're constantly disambiguating homophones. i don't know if anyone could get used to it.

and, like i said, it's just the national dialect, the putonghua. pinyin doesn't describe local dialects at all, while the chinese writing system is intelligible whatever dialect you speak. forcing an alphabetic writing system on china would probably destroy the profligacy of local dialects that is a part of chinese culture, if it could succeed at all.

The Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures (simplified Chinese: 百度十大神兽; traditional Chinese: 百度十大神獸; pinyin: bǎidù shí dà shénshòu), alternatively Ten Baidu Deities, was initially a humorous hoax from the interactive encyclopedia Baidu Baike which became a popular and widespread internet meme in the People's Republic of China in early 2009.[1][2]

These hoaxes, ten in number, originated in response to increasingly pervasive and draconian online censorship in China, and have become an icon of citizens' resistance to censorship.

1,Cao Ni Ma
A depiction of a "Cao Ni Horse".Cao Ni Ma (Chinese: 草泥马), literally "Grass Mud Horse", was supposedly a species of alpaca. The name is derived from cào nǐ mā (Chinese: 肏你妈), which translates to "fuck your mother". Note that the comparison with the "animal" name is not an actual homophone, but rather the two terms have the same consonants and vowels with different tones, which are represented by different characters. Their greatest enemy are "river crabs" (Chinese: 河蟹, Pinyin: héxiè, resembles 和谐 héxié meaning "harmony", referring to government censorship to create a "harmonious society", while noting that river crabs are depicted wearing three wristwatches, vaguely referring to the Three Represents, where 代表 "represent" and 戴表 "to wear a watch" are homophones), and are said to be frequently seen in combat against these crabs. Videos of songs[18][19], as well as "documentaries" about "Grass Mud Horse" started appearing on Youtube and elsewhere on the internet.[20][21] The video scored some 1.4 million hits; a cartoon attracted a quarter million more view
s; a nature documentary on its habits received 180,000 more.[3]The "Grass Mud Horse" became widely known on the English-language web following the 11 March 2009 publication of a New York times article on the phenomenon,[3] sparking widespread discussion on blogs, and even attempts to create "Grass Mud Horse" themed merchandise, such as plush dolls[22].

2,Fa Ke You
Fa Ke You (Chinese: 法克鱿), literally "French-Croatian Squid" (with the name derived from the direct Chinese transliteration of "fuck you" in English), was supposedly a species of squid discovered simultaneously by France (法国) and Croatia (克罗地亚), hence the name "Fa Ke You". The Baidu Baike article claims [23] that "Fa Ke You" is a species of invertebrate, aggressive squid found in Europe. When agitated, it is said that they release a form of "white-coloured liquid". These squids are said to cause great harm to humans when attacked. When some of these squids reached East Asia, it is said that they became hunted, and eaten with corn. Such a dish is known as 玉米法克鱿 (yù mǐ fǎ kè yóu, "Corn French-Croatian Squid", resembles "you, me, fuck you"), being one of the world's top five greatest delicacies. An alternate name for the dish in question is 非主流的法克鱿 (fēi zhǔ liú de fǎ kè yóu, "Emo French-Croatian Squid"). This is apparently due to the behaviour of these squids, which do not inhabit major rivers, thus scientists dubbing them as squids with "Emo behaviour".

3,Ya Mie Die
Ya Mie Die (Chinese: 雅蠛蝶), literally "Small Elegant Butterfly" (name derived from Japanese “止めて” yamete, meaning "stop", a reference to rape scenes and common conceptions and stereotypes Chinese display towards the Japanese in regards to pornography and erotomania), was supposedly a type of butterfly discovered on 1 January 2009 at the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (Chinese: 青藏高原; Pinyin: Qingzang Gaoyuan), and that legends state that there was once a Japanese girl who turned into these butterflies after harsh pressures during a romantic relationship. [24] These butterflies are able to change colour, and are luminescent, naturally emitting light from its wings. This is due to the cold temperatures and low oxygen environment these butterflies live in. There is an estimated 14,000 butterflies living throughout the world, and thus are considered to be precious and highly uncommon.

It is so nice to see an emperor like Mao having the mickey taken, by such a genius as Mr.Hung. I wish I could write Chinese characters to honour Hung as he deserves. Chinese, a wonderful script and a wonderful people.

4,Ju Hua Can
Ju Hua Can (Chinese: 菊花蚕), literally "Chrysanthemum Silkworms" (referring to Intestinal worms, where the term "Chrysanthemums" (júhuā) is vulgar slang which refers to the anus). This referred to Chrysanthemum Terrace, a song by Jay Chou, where the lyrics 菊花残，满地伤 (Chrysanthemums scattered, fill the floor with wounds) are re-rendered with homophones and similar sounds as 菊花蚕，满腚伤 ("Chrysanthemum" worms, fill the buttocks). Ju Hua Can can also
be interpreted as a pun on another homophone, 菊花残, meaning "broken chrysanthemum", which would be slang for a "broken anus", referring to (possibly painful) anal sex, as 残 is a homophone meaning "broken". Such a phrase implies hopelessness, as once a person is given a "broken anus", they would find difficulty in sitting down, and so "broken Chrysanthemum" is a common (vulgar) Chinese idiom. These silkworms are said to feed on chrysanthemum flowers rather than mulberry leaves (from the article). [25] The article also states that the usage of Chrysanthemum Silkworms dates back to 3000 years ago in Ancient China, and that they were the first cultivation method of silk obtained by early scientists. The silk produced by silkworms that feed on chrysanthemums rather than mulberry are able to be produced at a much faster rate, are higher in mass, are fireproof, protective against ionizing radiation, bulletproof, and lightweight. However, these silkworms are very difficult to maintain, and easily die. They are vulnerable to cold, heat, and are susceptible to changes in humidity, and thus are very costly to nurture. Noblewomen from ancient times are said to pay large sums of money for such types of silk.

5,Chun Ge
Chun Ge (Chinese: 鹑鸽), literally "Quail Pigeon" is a homophone with 春哥 (Big Brother Chun). This species of bird is apparently found only in Sichuan and Hunan; formerly found in the area that is now the Republic of Yemen. [26]The term Chun Ge 鹑鸽 has been used to refer to the female singer Li Yuchun due to her apparent masculine appearance. "Yemen" comes from the catchphrase 春哥纯爷们 (Pinyin: chūn gē chún yé men), meaning "Brother Chun is all man" — 爷, meaning "grandfather", can also be read as "masculine" (young males in Northeast China use the slang term 爷 as a personal pronoun in an impolite context). The 春 Chun can also refer to "fa chun" 发春, which is slang for sexual arousal - literally "Spring has come".

6,Ji Ba Mao
Ji Ba Mao (吉跋猫, Jí Bá Māo), literally "Lucky Journey Cat" (a homophone with 鸡巴毛, referring to pubic hair, as the homophone jība (鸡巴) translates to "penis", while the definition of 毛 máo is "hair" or "fur".) The original article states that this cat lives in dark, damp environments and competes for food with the White Tiger (white tiger is a slang term for a woman's shaved pubic area). Additionally, the Ji Ba Mao flourished during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor.[26]

8,Yin Dao Yan
Yin Dao Yan (吟稻雁, Yín Dào Yàn), literally "Singing Field Goose" (a homophone with 阴道炎 Yīn Dào Yán, meaning a Vaginitis infection). From the article on Yin Dao Yan, in the Kangxi era, a large goose dove into a certain field, damaging it and causing the local farmers to come down with a strange sickness.[28]

9,Da Fei Ji
Da Fei Ji (达菲鸡, Dá Fēi Jī), literally "Intelligent Fragrant Chicken" (a homophone with 打飞机 Dǎ Fēi Jī, slang for masturbation while literally meaning "hit the aeroplane"). According to the original article, Da Fei Ji is a species of bird that likes exercise, and the males use neck spasms and spit out a white secretion to impress females during mating seasons.[29]

10,Qian Lie Xie
Qian Lie Xie (潜烈蟹, Qián Liè Xiè), literally "Hidden Fiery Crab", closely resembles qián liè xiàn (前列腺), which translates to prostate glands. According to the article, this is a legendary crab that once stopped up the Grand Canal (referring to the urinary tract).

Official response
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television issued a directive on 30 March 2009 to highlight 31 categories of content prohibited online, including violence, pornography, content which may "incite ethnic discrimination or undermine social stability". Many netizens believe the instruction follows the official embarrassment over the rise of the "Grass Mud Horse" phenomenon.

Sad to see that the first thing that comes to the little minds at The Economist when discussing the joys of Chinese puns is "censorship"... This is keeping in with TE's task of doing its puny little best to destabilize China. You gentlemen are funny, but not for the reason you think you are. Keep it up, your credibility in China must be below negative.

Hilarious story. Just wanted to confirm that The Economist absolutely IS censored in Mainland China. This is usually done by the crude method of tearing pages out of the magazine related to China sometime before it heads to store shelves. This is even true in the most developed areas of Pudong, in Shanghai, where I have lived. You may be able to bypass the censors with a personal subscription to The Economist - I have read uncensored versions in the libraries of schools with a subscription - but it can sometimes be impossible to find an uncensored version in store shelves.